Definitions

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. Probably, some other very large dark pelagic bird, as the giant fulmar, Ossifraga gigantea: a name in use among sailors in the northern Pacific.

n. A terminal element in some compounds of Greek origin, meaning ‘generation,’ ‘production,’ as in cosmogony, theogony, etc.

n. The name seems to have been applied originally to southern albatrosses of medium size, with white bodies and black wings, such as Diomedea chlororhyncha. It was thus used by ‘deep-water’ sailors about 1860, and its application to the black-footed albatross, D. nigripes, of the North Pacific is of later date.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Examples

The first use of "gony" in print in English with the meaning of "simpleton" is from 1580 probably derived from the Scandinavian "gonyel" for "a stupid fellow"--which, of course, would also make it etymologically related to the Yiddish and German words.